Gearing for washing machines



sepf. A4, 1923;

B. c. WHITE u GEARING FOR WASHING MACHINES 3 Sheets-Sheet i Filed May l, 1920 sept. 4, 1923.-

B. C. WHITE GEARING FOR WASHING MACHINES Filed May l, 1920 l 1,467,214` B. C. WHITE GEARING FOR WASHING MACHINES Sept. 4, 1923.

5 Sheets-Shea?,l 5

Filed May l, 1920 MMM.

Patented Sept. 4, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BRUCE CLARK WHITE, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO FEDERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION O'F ILLINOIS.

GEAEING FOR WASHING MACHINES.

Application led May 1, 1920. Serial No. 878,072.v

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, BRUCE CLARK WHITE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gearing for Washing Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in gearing for washing machines and consists of the matters hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims. v

My invention relates to a gearing for washing machines in which a'rotating crank is connected to an oscillatory operating arm or to an operating pin designed to impart a rotary, oscillatory movement to the operated member, as the drum or cylinder, of a washinfr machine. f

IVhen a crank is connected by a pitman to drive an oscillatingl arm or to drive a pin designed to trave-l in an arcuate path, the rate of movement of the oscillating member will be relatively slower at successive points in its path when moving in a direction away from the position of the crank orbit than at the corresponding points'in its path, b`eginningv from the other end of said' path, when the oscillating member is moving towards said crank orbit. This is due to the fact, capable of ready demonstration, that in the movement of the oscillating member away from the crank orbit, its rate of movement is in proportion to the arithmetical difference between the versed sines of the angles of the crank and of therpitman, whereas on the return movement of the osi cillating member toward the crank orbit, its rate of movement is in proportion to the arithmetical sum of the versed sines of said angles. The movement of the oscillating member ythus lacks uniformity of accelera tion in the two directions and while slow enough at that end of its path of movement nearest to the crank orbit, the movement is too fast andhas too sudden and rapid acceleration upon the reverse, at the other end of its path of'movement.

My invention is designed to correct this evil and to produce a substantially uniform -both ends of the path of movement of the oscillating member, and drum actuated thereby.

Thus one of the objects of the invention 1s to provide a gearing which is adapted to so translate the rotary movement of a crank arm into an oscillatory movement of an operating arm or of a pin moving in an arcuate pathand of the oscillatory washing machine-member actuated thereby, that the oscillatory movement shall be uniformly slow at both limits of its 'oscillation and shall have a substantially uniform rate of acceleration in both directions to and from the more rapid rate of movement intermediate said limits of oscillation. This and other objects and advantages of the invention will be more particularl pointed out as I proceed with my speciiibation.

In the drawings Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a washing machine having an oscillatory cylinder and gearing.

Figures 2 and 3 are detail views of the gearing on an enlarged scale, representing the parts of the gearing in different positions.

Figures 4 and 5 are diagrammatic views which will be more particularly described in the specification.

Referring to that embodiment of the inof the cylinder or vention illustrated in the drawings :-10 in-l dicates the body of a washing machine, which is of any suitable construction. It includes a tub 11 to contain the water for washing the clothes, and an oscillatory cylinder 12, which is the receptacle for the provided with my improved Aclothes to be washed. 13 indicates the usual bar or frame 14, which is attached to the A I upright legs 15-15 at one end of the tub. The gearing is preferably enclosed in a gear case 16, provided between the legs A15-15 and the adjacent end of the tub11,fa door 17 (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1) hinged ari to one leg of the tub body, forming closure for the gear case.

The oscillatoryy movement is imparted to the tub by means of an operating arm 18,Y fixed to a stud shaft 19, which has rotative bearing in a standard 14a rising lfrom the bar 14. Said stud shaft has its axis coincident vwith the axis of the oscillatory receptacle 12,y and is capable of operative connection therewith in a familiar way not'neces- Sarg to be described herein.

t one side of the operating arm 18, and as illustrated, somewhat below the same, is located a worm gear 20, which is'suitably mounted on the bar or frame 14. Said worm gear is in a plane at right an les to the axis of the stud shaft 19 and is drlven 'by a horizontal worm 21 on a shaft 22, which is in line with and is operatively connected to al shaft 23 of a motor 24. The motor 24 is attached to and supported by the bar orA frame 14. A friction coupling mechanism 25, is preferably interposed between the shaft 22 and the motor shaft 23, in order to relieve the motor shaft in case the gearing or the parts driven thereby become obstructed or otherwise prevented from operation, so as to put too great a load on the motor. A v

The wringer 13 is driven by an upright Y shaft 26, which is connected by a worm gear 27 ,at its bottom end to the worm 21.

28 indicates a crank pin ontheworm gear,-

and 29 indicates the pitman which is designed to drive the operating arml 18. A radius arm 30 ispivoted on the standard 14:a to a horizontal pin 31. Said pin, as illustrated, is positioned below and a little to the right of the stud shaft 19. The end of the radius arm 30 is pivotally connected by a pin 32, to the pitman 29. A link 33 con-A nects thel pivot pin 32 to a pin 18a on the operating arm. 4'

The rotary movement of the crankpin 28 will impart through the pitman 29, an

' oscillatory -movement' to the radius arm 30, and the said radius arm through the link 33, will impart an oscillatory movement to the pin 18!L and to the operatlng arm 18. It will be manifest from an inspection of Figs. 2 and 3, that on account of the fact that the A operating arm 18 is shorter than the radius arm, the angle through which the operating 130, while the anglefffb is approximatelyY 60. An4 oscillation l'aving an amplitude of 130,namely, 65 to one side of the vertical and to the other side of the vertical-is about that 'required of the cylinder 12 in a washing machine of the kind described. The lengths of the several parts may be given in terms of the crank arm, (namely, the arm 1' or radius of the circle z in which the crank pin 2,8 rotates) as a unit, substantially as followsz The pitman 29 is of a length equal to four times the length of the crank arm; the radius arm is twice-the length of the crank arm; the link 33 is of the length ot the crank arm; and the operating arm 18 or the radius of the arcuate path of the pin 18, is 151i times the length of the crank arm. With the parts of this length, the radius armi is designed to have an amplitude of oscillation of approximately 60.

As will be manifest, these proportions may be varied in many' ways to suit the conditions and the requirements demanded of the particular gearing, and are only specified for purposes of illustration.

'In 'locating vthe several centers, a line av--w may be drawn through the center of the crank pin circle, to represent the median position of the pitman 29. The permitted length of the crank or the radius of the crank pin circle is then determined and after the'circle of the crank pin 28 is described, the length of the pitman is laid out on the' line a-' to the right (as illustrated) from both sides of the crank pin circle, to give the points on said line indicating the limits of movement of its right hand-end. The line y-g/ is then drawn at rightV angles to the line .7cthrough the point 4on the line -w, midway between the Isaid limits.

With 4a point s on the line y-y as a the arc b is described, this representing the arc through which the pin 32 on the radius arm 30 is to oscillate. In the present example, the radius arm selected, as already pointed out, is twice the crank arm or the radius ofA the circle of the crankpin 28, and the position of its center on the line g/-g/ is such that the arc described about said center is approximately 60 between the points where it intersects the line aff-.

In Figs. 4 and 5, I have shown diagramauatically the relative position-s of the several parts ofthe gearing for each 30 angle of movement of the ycrank from 0 to 360. To save confusion, the positions of the parts from0 to 180 'are shown in Fig. 4, and the positions from 180 to 360"y are shown in Fig. 5. The 0 position of the crank corresponds'to the left-'hand limit of movement of the pitman, while the 180 ition of theI crank corresponds to the right-hand limit of movement of the pitthe crank from 0 to 60, the radius arm and operating arm are nearly parallel, and, being linked together, their ends move approximately equal distances. From 60 to 90 this parallelism disappears, the angle between the two arms approaching a right angle, so that the movement of the end of the operating arm is greatly increased as from 90 to 120.

compared to the movement at the end of Vthe radius arm, and this increased movement of the end' of t-he operating arm is maintained, but to a somewhat less extent, At the 120 angle the radius arm and operating arm are moved at practically the same speed. From 120, to 150 the end of the operating arm does not move as fast nor as far as the end of the radius arm,this being due to the changing angle of the link. From 150 to 180 the slowing down of the end of the operating arm as compared to the movement of the end of the radius arm, is still more apparent'and is suiiicient to olf-set the crank irregularity so that the movements from 150 to 180 and from 180 to 210, are no greater than from 330 to 360 and from 0 to 30. In fact, the parts are so designed as to make said movement a little less, in order to produce -a better average between the movement from 270 to 300, as compared to the movement from 90 t0 220.

The `improved gearing has particular advantages when applied to a power driven washing machine of the kind' herein described.

The relative slow stopping and starting of the oscillating cylinder type of washer, with an amplitude of oscillation of the cylinder of 130 or more, is desirable and important in that( it gives the maw lof clothes time to fall from one side of the cylinder to the other, when the movement of the cylinder is reversed.

The slower stopping and starting at both ends of the oscillating movement of the operating arm is compensated for by a more rapid movement of said arm at the middle of the throw. This is of particular advantage in suchia washing machine, since the clothes are forced through the water at a higher speed and with a more vigorous cleansing action. I

This mechanical movement eliminates gearing, prevents backlash, lost motion, shock, noise, unnecessary -wea'r and friet-ion, and reduces the weight and momentum of the moving parts, with the resultant reduction in breakage.v It is simple, compact, easily assembled, and is economical in construction.

It will be noted that the crank is required to rotate more than 90 in each direction to bring the opera-ting arm to its middle position. This adds vto the smoothness of operation, since the crank must overcome the inertia. ofthe parts, in addition to friction and other resist-ances, when moving from 0 tom 90, or from 180 to 270. From 90 to 180 and from 270 to 360 the crank is only required to overcome the fric-tion and other resistances minus the momentum of the moving parts. Hence the advantage of increasing the, angle through which the crank moves up to mid-stroke of the operating arm in both directions.

vThese and other advantages of the new `mechanical movement will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

While in describing the invention, I have referred to details of construction and arrangement., the invention is in no way intended to be limited there-to, except in so claims.

I claim as my invention 1. A gearing for Washing machines comprising; an operated member capable of a rotary, oscillatory movement; a crank and pitman; means intermediate said pitman and said operated member adapted to oscillate the operated member at an accelerated rate from the points of -reversal to the mid point of the oscillatory movement, the rates of acceleration from each reversal point being substantially the same; and means for driving said crank.

2. A vgearing for washing machines comprising; an operated member capable of a rotary, oscillatory movement; a crank and far as may be 'pointed out in the appended pitm'an; means intermediate said pitman ment, the r'ates of acceleration from each reversal point being substantially the same, and the rates of movement approaching and leaving both points of reversal being equally slow; and means for driving said crank.

3. A gearing for washing machines comprising; an operated member capable of a rotary, oscillatory movement; a rocker arm adapted for actuating said operated member; a pivoted radius arm; means connecting said radius arm and rocker arm; a crank and pitman connected to said radius arm; said rocker arm and radius-arm-connectingmeans being adapted, and said several parts being relatively proportioned and posi-l tioned, to oscillate the operated member at4 a rapidly accelerated rate from the points lio with said radius arm; sai

of reversal to the mid point of the oscillatory movement, with the rates of acceleration from each reversal point substantially the same, and the rates of movement approaching and leaving both points of rever` sal, equally slow; and means for driving said cran 4. A gearing for washing machines comprising; an operated member capable of a rotary, oscillatory movement; a rocker arm adapted for actuating said operated member; a pivoted radius arm having a length greater than the length of said rocker arm; a link connecting said radius arm and rocker arm; a crank and itman connected d) parts being relatively proportioned and positioned to scillate the operated member at a rapidly accelerated rate from the points of reversal tothe mid point of the oscillatory movement, the rates of acceleration from each reversal point being substantially the same,

with the rates of movement approaching and leaving both points of reversal equally slow; and means for driving the crank.-

5. A gearing for Washing machines Coln-4 momia prising; an operated member capable of a rotary, oscillatory movement; a rocker arm adapted for actuating said operated member; a pivotedl radius arm of a length greater than the length of said rocker arm' a link connecting said radius arm an rocker arm; a crankfand pitman connected with said radius arm; said pitman being relatively short and -the radius arm, link, and rocker arm being relatively proportioned and the pivoted point of the radius arm and rocker arm being positioned with reference to the crank arm center So that the link assumes a position substantially at right angles to the pitman at the remote end of the stroke; and means for driving the crank. l Y

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I aix my signature in the presence of two witnesses,` this 27th day of Ap-ril, A. D., 1920.

BRUCE CLARK WHITE. Witnesses:

JosErH IsAACs, MARY A. FOSTER. 

